From the Desk of
Rick Owens
WHAT DOES GOD LOOK LIKE?
May 24, 2012
“A kindergarten teacher told everyone to draw a picture of what was important to them. In the back of
the room, Johnny began to labor over his drawing. Everybody else finished and handed in their
picture, but he didn’t. He was still drawing. The teacher graciously walked back and put her arm
around Johnny’s shoulder and said, ‘Johnny, what are you drawing?’ He didn’t look up; he just kept
on working feverishly at his picture. He said, ‘God.’ ‘But Johnny,’ she said gently, ‘no one knows
what God looks like.’ He answered, ‘They will when I’m through.’” (The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart,
Charles R. Swindoll, pg. 231).
This is, of course, a cute story about a little boy that is so innocent and honest we automatically love
him. However, there is a deeper message that should be taken from this story. Christians should have
the same mind set as Johnny. When we are through with our work, as followers of God, will people be
able to look at it and know what He looks like?
We understand that God is a spirit being, and no human can look upon Him and live. This is why John
wrote, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him” (Jn. 1:18). However, we can see and understand the nature of God. Remember
when Philip asked Jesus, “Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (Jn. 14:8)? In reply to this, the Lord
stated, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father” (Jn. 14:9)?
Philip as well as the other apostles should have seen the Father in the Son; meaning they should have,
by His actions, understood the nature of the Father. The Hebrews writer penned, “God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:1-3). He said the Son was the “express” image of the Father. The
word “express” is translated from the Greek word,
(pronounced charakt r), and is where we
get our English word “character.” In this context it means an instrument used for engraving or carving
(Thayer). “This word expresses the idea: and the sense here is, that if God be represented under the
idea of a substance, or being, then Christ is the exact resemblance of that - as an image is of the stamp
or die. The resemblance between a stamp and the figure which is impressed is exact; and so is the
resemblance between the Redeemer and God” (Barnes).
Does this mean that Christ looked physically like the Father? The answer is, “NO.” He looked like the
Father in that His nature was the same as the Father’s. He acted in the way the Father would have
acted if He were the One to walk the earth. Jesus had the same purpose, ideals, plans, and love that the
Father had and the disciples should have seen that.
As we live our lives, we too should depict God in our lives. Do our actions say that we are followers
of God or followers of the world? If we are followers of the world, are we not followers of Satan?
Christ prayed, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
CHURCH OF CHRIST • Cordova, Tennessee
www.cordovachurchofchrist.com
From the Desk of
Rick Owens
in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me” (Jn. 17:20-23). By being one with God, He can be seen in us by the world and they can
understand what He looks like as our faithful actions demonstrate His nature.
It should be our desire, when we finish our “drawing” in this life that people will know exactly what
God looks like. They should also understand how important it is for each of us to finish our work
before our time on earth is over. By showing the Lord to others through our actions, we have the
opportunity to impact the lives of others and hopefully, help bring them to the knowledge of Jesus.
CHURCH OF CHRIST • Cordova, Tennessee
www.cordovachurchofchrist.com